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This chapter discusses the emergence of evolutionary synthesis. Evolutionary synthesis — the coming together of naturalists and geneticists concerning Darwinism and Mendelism — happened in the 1930s and 1940s. It resolved many of the large issues that had confronted Darwin's theory. Evolutionary synthesis constitutes what many biologists today regard as biology's basic evolutionary paradigm. The phrase “evolutionary synthesis” was introduced by Julian Huxley in his book Evolution: the Modern Synthesis (1942) to indicate two generally accepted conclusions: that evolution can be explained by...

This chapter discusses the emergence of evolutionary synthesis. Evolutionary synthesis — the coming together of naturalists and geneticists concerning Darwinism and Mendelism — happened in the 1930s and 1940s. It resolved many of the large issues that had confronted Darwin's theory. Evolutionary synthesis constitutes what many biologists today regard as biology's basic evolutionary paradigm. The phrase “evolutionary synthesis” was introduced by Julian Huxley in his book Evolution: the Modern Synthesis (1942) to indicate two generally accepted conclusions: that evolution can be explained by natural selection acting on variations resulting from gene mutations and recombination, and that phenomena observed by paleontologists, systematists, and field naturalists can be explained in a manner consistent with known genetic mechanisms.